Making a complaint

This information is for deaf young people and families of deaf children in England and Wales. The process for making a complaint is different in Northern Ireland and Scotland.

You can complain if you're unhappy with how:

• Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) or Department for Communities (DfC) handled your disability benefit claim

• the medical assessment for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) was conducted.

Making a complaint will not get a decision on your claim changed, to do that you need to challenge the decision. The first step to challenging a decision is called a mandatory reconsideration. See our information about making a mandatory reconsideration request.

Complaining to DWP

If you’re unhappy with the way a disability benefit claim has been dealt with, or you think the decision is taking too long, you can complain. You can complain whether you're claiming Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or PIP.

Follow DWP's complaints procedure:

1. Start your complaint by writing to the office dealing with the claim. You can make a complaint by phone, but writing makes sure that you have a record of what you’ve said.

2. If you're unhappy with the response or how long it's taking, you can escalate your complaint. The next step is to ask for the complaint to be passed to a Complaints Resolution Manager. They are responsible for making sure complaints are looked at and dealt with properly. They should let you know they’ve received your complaint within 15 working days. They should contact you again when they’ve finished their investigation.

3. If you still can’t get a satisfactory response to your complaint, you can take things further. You can complain to the senior manager of operations for DWP. The complaints resolution manager should inform you of how to do this in their response. The senior manager will ask for an independent internal review of your complaint. They should provide a full and final response within 15 working days.

In some cases, DWP may take longer than they should to get back to you. If this happens, send a copy of your complaint to your MP. Ask them to contact DWP on their behalf to find out what is taking so long.

Complaining about a PIP assessment

If you’d like to complain about your PIP assessment, you need to complain to the assessment provider. You can complain about the assessment itself:

• how you were treated
• whether the assessor listen to you
• if any adjustments you asked for weren’t provided.

You can also complain about the report, if the assessor:

• wrongly recorded your answers
• made unjustified assumptions about you or your level of hearing.

Make a complaint about your PIP assessment provider

You will have to follow their complaints procedure to the end before you can take your complaint any further.

If you are not sure who carried out your assessment, you can check our list of PIP assessment providers.

If you live in Northern Ireland

If you live in Northern Ireland the complaints procedure is slightly different. You will be making a complaint to DfC.

1. Contact the office that is dealing with your case and give them the details of your complaint.

2. If you’re not happy with the response, escalate to the Office Manager responsible. The office dealing with your case will give you their name and address.

3. The Office Manager will acknowledge the complaint within 2 working days following receipt. Your complaint should be answered within ten working days following receipt.

4. If you feel that the Office Manager has not settled your complaint, you can write to the Director. The reply you receive from the Office Manager will tell you who to contact.

5. DfC will acknowledge the complaint within 2 working days. The Director will answer your complaint within ten working days.

PIP assessments in Northern Ireland are carried out by Capita. If you’re complaining about a PIP assessment, email Capita. 

What to include in your complaint

Whoever you are complaining to, make sure that you explain what’s gone wrong and why you think this is wrong. It's important to be clear about why you're complaining and what you want to happen.

Examples of a clear complaint include:

• "I made my claim on 1 February, which is four months ago, and I still haven't had a decision. I think this delay is unacceptable"

• “the assessor was rude and did not let me finish my answers”.

An example of a clear result may be, "I’d like my claim to be decided in the next 2 weeks".

Try to keep your complaint as short as possible and keep to the main points you want to make. It’s ok to use bullet points.

If you’re still unhappy

You may still be unhappy with the response after following all the steps in a complaints procedure. In this case, you can ask the Independent Case Examiner (GOV.UK) to look at your complaint. The Examiner is completely independent.

You must contact them within 6 months of getting the final reply from DWP, DfC or assessment provider. You must send a copy of the final response to your complaint.

If they accept your complaint, they’ll look at what happened that you complained about. They'll also look at what DWP, DfC or the assessment provider did about it. If they think they should have done more, the Examiner will ask them to put matters right.

If you’re unhappy with the response from the Independent Case Examiner, you can escalate. Ask your MP (UK Parliament) to send your complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

Referencing your legal rights in your complaint

Deaf children, young people and their families have a range of legal rights. These legal rights make sure no one is discriminated against because of deafness.

It can be helpful when making a complaint to reference your legal rights. Contact our Helpline for advice and support.

These laws protect disabled people's right to access to services. This includes things like:

• not providing a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter for an interview

• insisting on deaf people using the phone.

Other issues, such as poor decisions, may not seem to be related to your legal rights at first. However, decisions may be wrong due to bad assumptions about deafness. These bad assumptions may be made by DWP, DfC or the PIP assessor.

It's commonly assumed that a deaf person with hearing aids or cochlear implants can hear well. This may be because the person looking at the claim has assumed that hearing devices replicate or restore 'normal' hearing. They may not realise that while hearing devices can help, they have limitations and weaknesses.

Raising a legal rights issue may help to resolve your case. It may also lead to changes in DWP, DfC or assessment provider practice that will benefit all deaf people.